Leftovers
by WolfieNLazuli
Summary: As a regular customer at the restaurant Sasuke works in, Naruto's always forgetting his leftovers. Chance and a whole bunch of Other Things conspire to bring them together, no matter how they dig their heels in and try to resist. SasuNaru, AU
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Leftovers

**Authors:** WolfPilot06 and Lazuli

**Warnings:** AU, shonen ai, angst, language, med-speak, stuff

**Pairings: **SasuNaru, LeeSaku

**Notes:** The first part of a cowritten story between Wolf and Lazuli. ) Spawns entirely from an idea that Lazuli had with another friend that Wolfie then commandeered, wrote the first part of, and then demanded a cowrite of. XD

---

"Oi! Dumb ass!"

Startled by the sharp voice cutting through the snow-laden quiet of the evening, Naruto nearly slipped and killed himself turning to see what poor idiot the person was yelling at. It was with some surprise, then, that he saw the dark-haired waiter from the restaurant approaching him, a plastic bag that Naruto recognized as the leftovers he'd forgotten held in one shivering hand as the other rubbed briskly at his upper arms, clad only in a thin dress shirt as he was.

"You forgot your leftovers, dumb ass," the waiter informed him, and impatiently shoved the bag into Naruto's shocked hands.

"Er..."

"Next time you order a doggy bag, remember to bring it _with_ you when you go, idiot."

Without further ado, the waiter began to retreat back into the warmth of the restaurant's interior. Feeling as if he should thank the waiter, Naruto galvanized himself out of the state of shock he'd fallen into.

"Hey, er, thanks!" he called. The waiter waved a dismissive hand in his direction, not sparing him a glance, and Naruto found himself irritated by the man's apathetic, abusive demeanor. "You _prick!_"

_Since when do waiters go after someone who forgets their meal? _He wondered absently, clutching the food tighter and making his way across the icy roads. He was kind of grateful - that was his meal for tomorrow - but the waiter didn't have to be such a prick about it.

"Who does he think he is?" Naruto muttered as he arrived at his apartment and tossing the food on the table. "Just because he works in my favorite restaurant and probably sees people leave food all the time..."

He couldn't get the superior look out of his mind, and then he remembered how the waiter came out without a coat. "Who's the dumb ass now?" He gloated briefly.

Briefly, he deflated as he realized that the waiter probably hadn't had time to grab a coat before coming after his dumb ass with his food, and it was his fault that the poor prick had had to freeze his prickish ass off.

"I should tip him next time I go there," he mumbled to himself as he shrugged off his coat and threw it in the approximate direction of his couch. "But I'll be damned if I'll let him call me dumb ass again."

--

Naruto idly played with the remainder of his food, realizing that he couldn't finish it again. This place always gave enormous portions (part of the reason why he liked coming here) and so it was almost impossible to finish them. Still, it was his once-a-month treat to himself: eating something besides ramen.

He started shoveling stuff in a box that he asked for beforehand - he knew himself too well to not ask for one - and left a good tip for the waiter. He could leave a note as well - 'for the dark haired prick from last time', but the boy had been actually somewhat civil, if still wearing that damn smirk.

"Don't forget to bring it with you this time, _sir,_" said a vaguely familiar voice. Naruto looked up, startled, in the midst of pulling on his jacket, to find himself gazing into the darkest pair of eyes he'd ever seen. Automatically, he frowned to realize that it was the same prickish waiter who'd come after him last time, smirking at him knowingly and waiting with one hip jutting out to clean his table.

"I won't, thanks." Naruto snapped, and stormed out of the restaurant, annoyed at the waiter's attitude. It wasn't until he had huffed himself halfway down the street in a righteous rage that he realized that he'd forgotten the leftovers - again. With a sinking heart, he turned and took the package from the waiter's expectant hand, scowling.

"Shut up," he mumbled, tucking the package into his coat. The waiter almost smiled.

"You're welcome, dumb ass."

--

Naruto was starting to get vaguely annoyed at himself. He usually wasn't this forgetful, and it was starting to get rather annoying to see the waiter - which he learned did have a name besides 'prick' - wearing that damn smirk all the time.

"You don't always have to bring it out to me." He muttered, not enjoying the amused tilt of the other boy's lips. "And you can stop calling me dumb ass, too!" He protested. "I... I'm still a customer!" He said triumphantly.

"Hn," said 'prick' dubiously, "I'm not paid enough to go venturing into the cold after a customer on a regular basis. 'Dumb ass' suits you better."

Naruto swelled like an indignant hen, snatching the leftovers from Sasuke's hand.

"You shouldn't treat a customer that way!" Naruto frowned, and then stared at the boy. "Then why do you come out into the cold and bring me my stuff?"

"You're thin enough that I can practically see your ribs through your shirt," the other boy murmured, absently, it seemed, reaching out and adjusting the threadbare length of Naruto's scarf to settle more warmly against his skin. "You need every bite you can get."

Naruto blinked in surprise at that, mouth falling open as he failed to form a reply.

Sasuke smirked as he made his way back to the warm interior of the restaurant. "And don't stand around with your mouth hanging open like that. It makes you look dumber than you are."

When Naruto finally managed to rouse himself from his surprise, Sasuke had already disappeared into the restaurant. Still, he shook his fist at the glass, practically trembling with frustration as Sasuke merely looked at him and smirked.

"Bastard!" he yelled, and stomped off.

He pulled his coat tighter around him as he wandered home, cheeks flushed with just more than the cold. What was a random person—never mind that he was practically Naruto's regular waiter - commenting about how thin Naruto was? Nobody made it their business before.

"I'm not too thin," he said later that evening, frowning at his reflection in the dirty bathroom mirror and poking at his flat stomach. "I'm just...muscular. Yeah. Stupid waiter."

Shivering from the cold of his apartment - his tiny little portable heater was barely enough to heat the area around his bed, forget the rest of the room - Naruto curled under his faded covers and tried to fall asleep, haunted by the image of mocking black eyes.

--

When he ate at the restaurant next, he didn't have enough money to order one of his bigger portions, and what he did have he ate it all. There was no extra box this time, and he wondered vaguely what his waiter would think of it as he paid his bill and made his way out into the seemingly perpetual cold, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"Oi, dumb ass!" Came the call from behind him. Scowling, Naruto turned.

"What?" he demanded testily as Sasuke approached him, shivering slightly. Wordlessly, the dark-haired boy shoved a box into his hands and turned to leave. Naruto blinked at the package in his hands.

"H-hey! Wait!" Naruto trotted up to Sasuke, who had turned in the doorway of the restaurant, looking impatient. "This can't be mine - I mean, thanks, but I didn't have leftovers today."

"I know." Sasuke said simply, and an almost smile crinkled the corners of his dark eyes. "Consider it a reward for being a regular customer here."

Naruto scowled down at the box, then back up at the waiter--Sasuke-- and gave a half smile. "Heh - I guess that I am your best customer, coming in all the time." He wasn't going to show the still arrogant, always calling him dumb ass, waiter how grateful he really was that he'd have food for the next couple of days.

Sasuke frowned at him for a moment. Abruptly, he spoke, shifting his weight unconsciously and folding his arms across his chest.

"What do you do for a living, dumb ass?"

"Don't call me - huh?" Naruto blinked. Where did that come from?

"You do have a job, right?" An elegant dark eyebrow arched, "I assume that's how you pay for your meals here."

Naruto shrugged. "Temporary work, mostly." He hedged. "Odd jobs, you know?" He forced a smile on his face, not saying the jobs were more suited to high school kids that already had allowances and lived with their families.

"Hm." Sasuke's face was impassive as he shifted his weight again. Naruto was beginning to notice that it was an unconscious habit for the dark-haired waiter. "There's an opening here. You want to work here?"

"I... I, uh... have a job already." Naruto said quickly, wondering just why he was being offered job - and by the formally prick-like waiter. "I gotta go, actually. Thanks for the food."

Moving faster than Sasuke would have believed possible, Naruto hurried down the street, not looking back and missing the annoyed scowl that crossed the waiter's face.

"Dumb ass," Sasuke muttered to himself, shaking his head, and went back into the restaurant.

--

The next month yielded an even smaller meal that before--just a bowl of ramen this time. Sasuke frowned as he watched the blond eat, his skin a paler shade than before.

He didn't believe it was possible, but the dumb ass looked even thinner than before. _He's not going to make himself better by eating ramen._

With an aggravated sigh, Sasuke leaned into the kitchen window and hailed Sakura, who seemed to be performing something like fifteen tasks at the same time, one hand skillfully tossing a pan of vegetables as the other delicately seasoned a cut of beef, her right foot hooking a pot from the bottom ledge and onto the counter while the left supported the entire operation. Unimpressed - Sakura always did this; she was one of only two cooks who ran the entire restaurant - Sasuke waited until she paused to take a breath before speaking.

"Oi, Sakura," he called, "Would you mind making one of your Cherry Blossom Surprises?"

Wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, Sakura looked at her friend, surprised.

"Cherry Blossom Surprise? Sure. But why ask?" Before Sasuke could answer, vivid green eyes widened. "Oooh. It's _him_, isn't it? The mystery customer you never let me see?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the dumb ass that always forgets his food. He's eating the _ramen _tonight - and you know him. He always orders twice as much as any regular person can eat, then leaves the damn box on the table."

Sakura frowned, wiping her hands off on her apron and coming closer so she didn't have to shout over the kitchen noise.

"He always orders ramen, but he did order the smallest serving today. You think he's not hungry?" she said, sounding dubious even as she suggested Naruto's lack of appetite.

"He's never not hungry," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "I mentioned the open waiter job last time, and he hightailed it out like nothing else. I don't think he can _afford _anything more."

"He sounds ... a little off, Sasuke." Her eyes showed brief concern. "How old is this kid? Your age - younger?" She shook her head. "I'll make him my special, but I'd be careful with him."

Sasuke shrugged. "Seems to be about my age, but he's so underfed that it's hard to tell." He moved back to check on the table, then swore loudly when he saw the remaining soup on the table, the money for the meal there, and no dumb ass blond.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, alarmed. Sasuke never swore unless he was extremely pissed off or worried; unless, of course, he was calling someone _dumb ass_, but somehow it wasn't the same. "He didn't pass out at the table, did he?"

"No," Sasuke scowled after swearing at himself for not having kept an eye on the emaciated blond, "He's gone."

She tapped her fingers thoughtfully on the counter. "I bet you could find him easily." She said. "If he's ever written a check - or even if you ask around." Her smile came easily then. "And it's not like this town is very big."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Careful, Sakura, your stalkerish tendencies are showing again," he chided teasingly. "Unlike you and the rest of my former fangirl legion, my first resort is not to find out everything I can about the object of my interest."

"So you admit to being interested in him?" Sakura's smile was mischievous. Sasuke swore again silently for his slip of tongue. "I thought so. You're not as hard to read as you'd like to think."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not made of ice, Sakura. He's just a dumb ass blond who can't take care of himself, and runs away at the thought of a job." He wasn't going to admit anything beyond that, but Sakura's knowing smile said that he didn't need to say anything.

Sasuke sighed. "Look - he comes in here every month, always orders ramen - says he has a temp job somewhere." He scowled. "That's all I know about him, other than the fact that he likes to leave his food around."

"His name's Naruto," Lee piped up suddenly from the background. The other chef of the restaurant, he came up behind Sakura and planted a quick kiss on her temple; she beamed as he grinned toothily at Sasuke. "That one time when you were sick, I was helping cover the tables. I think I met your mysterious customer - blond, spiky hair and blue eyes, right?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah - that'd be Naruto. He kind of keeps to himself. Not many people have been able to get close to him." Lee shrugged. "I think he was hurt before." For all that Lee could jump around and act like a total maniac, he was unusually observant when it came to people. That and that fact that his 'drinking buddies' gave him more information than they ever realized.

Sasuke gave him a piercing look.

"All this you gathered from serving him once?" he said skeptically. Lee grinned.

"Of course I talked to him, as well! He seemed sad and depressed - I thought I should talk to him and inspire him to enjoy the full springtime of his youth while he could! Eyes that old and sad do not belong in such a handsome, youthful face!"

Sakura giggled as Sasuke shook his head and sighed, putting a hand against his forehead. After a moment, he looked up, a faint almost smile touching his lips.

"Thanks, Lee. I'll see what I can find."

As he walked away, Sasuke rolled his eyes upon hearing Sakura call after him.

"Not a stalker, my butt!" she said cheerfully, "You, my sulky, sorrowful friend, are obsessed."

Sasuke shook his head again. Girls.

--

He waited until the end of his shift to do some searching of his own, ignoring the little voice in his head – which sounded suspiciously like Sakura - that said he was being a stalker. Something about the way Naruto looked tonight stuck in his head--the blond looked sick, worn out. He ran a hand through his hair, wondering how a single person made such an impression on him.

"This is stupid." He muttered to himself. "First I chase after a dumb ass blond to hand him leftovers when it's freezing outside, now I'm searching for him when all I have is his name and what he looks like."

"Oi, oi! Fuck off, assholes. I'm not giving you my _coat_, too. It's the only one I have!"

Sasuke's head snapped up as he heard the familiar voice coming from an alley across the street, furious and loud in the silent winter-chilled air.

"But you still owe us, _Naruto_." The leader of the group smirked. "Protection is the main thing in this area - and you haven't paid your dues."

"Protection? _Protection, my ass!_" Naruto yelled, outraged. Sasuke crossed the street quickly and peered into the alley to find the blond facing a gang of about eight men, fists clenched tightly at his sides as he yelled, red-faced, at the men surrounding him. "What fucking protection are you talking about? Protection from your _bad breath?_ Well, I've gotta tell you, pal, that protection of yours isn't working too hot."

They all stepped forward as a group, the leader glaring at Naruto before the blond ducked and punched him solidly in the stomach.

"Stupid assholes." Naruto muttered, kicking another one, but it seemed two was his limit as his breathing came a little harsher and the others closed in. Sasuke closed his eyes briefly, wondering just what type of idiot got himself attacked by eight morons.

Shaking his head, Sasuke stepped into the alley, slouching, his hands deep in his pockets as he leveled an even glare at the nearest thug.

"You're still a dumb ass, Naruto," Sasuke drawled, ignoring the shock in the blond boy's face as Sasuke said his name. "Wandering into the middle of a gang seems to be just the kind of thing you'd do, though."

"Fuck you, too, bastard," Naruto snarled, throwing his fist into an attacking thug's face and letting out a grunt as he was kicked solidly in the side. Sasuke caught a punch aimed at his face and used the man's own momentum as he sidestepped to knee him in the groin. Pivoting smoothly on his heel, he snapped his leg out in a perfect roundhouse kick, knocking yet another thug into one of his companions. Sasuke fought with an almost bored expression on his face, moving so gracefully it was almost beautiful to watch.

Naruto, having been thrown against the wall hard enough to make his vision swim, could only watch in dazed surprise as Sasuke made short work of the remaining thugs and came to stand in front of him, frowning darkly at his sprawled form.

Naruto glared up at him, reaching up to wipe away some blood on his cheek. "I see you don't have food this time." He muttered, forcing himself to his feet. "So why the hell are you here?" Even when Sasuke saved his ass, he wasn't about to be grateful. "You're just..." He swayed slightly, his vision doubling for a moment.

Sasuke caught him with a sigh, easily looping one of Naruto's arms around his shoulders. He helped the unsteady boy hobble out of the alley without replying. He didn't really know what to say, anyway.

"I happened to be passing by on the way home when I heard you being beat upon," he finally said, half-lying. He hadn't really been intending to go home, but it had been pure chance that he'd happened upon Naruto. "I figured you'd appreciate my helping you."

"You figured wrong," Naruto growled, wishing the world wasn't swimming around him so he could tell Sasuke to go away. "I could've handled those guys on my own. Now they're just going to be pissed off at you." He turned his head and spat into the snow, the spittle bright red with blood. He probed his teeth carefully with his tongue and swore silently when he found three loose to the touch.

"Of course you could've handled them." Sasuke sighed again, "And of course you can walk on your own now. I guess you don't need me at all."

And he let Naruto slide into a graceless lump on the pavement, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and beginning to walk away.

Naruto was tempted to just lie there - it wouldn't have been the first time that he was in this situation, and having a stuck up prick of a waiter wasn't something he needed or wanted. He started coughing though, at first suppressing the coughs out of habit so nobody would hear them, but they shook his already thin frame violently.

Sasuke turned around, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You really are an idiot." He muttered, lifting Naruto easily again, a little alarmed at how light the boy was. "Not eating, getting your ass kicked, and now you have a cold." He shook his head.

"Don't have a cold," Naruto mumbled, closing his eyes tightly as the world threatened to tip him off. "It's just a chronic cough. 've always had it."

"Even better." Sasuke said sarcastically, "Maybe you have tuberculosis. That's loads better than a cold. I'm bringing you back to my apartment. No protests."

Naruto managed a half hearted glare, but another bout of coughs shook his body. "Had it since I was a kid." He muttered, leaning his weight on Sasuke now. "Don' need any help."

He was determined to not have to owe this guy anything - he was sick before, he always got over it. It was part of the reason why he always ate something fairly healthy and filling once a month.

Sasuke sighed again; he seemed to be doing that a lot around Naruto.

"You won't owe me, idiot. Just humor me."

Naruto eyed him suspiciously, and tried to pull away, even when he almost fell over his own feet from the effort. "No." He managed that one word before passing out.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and lifted Naruto into his arms.

"A compelling argument," he murmured to the unconscious boy, "But unfortunately, not quite convincing enough."

---

To be continued…

---

Wolf and Lazuli


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Leftovers (2?)  
**Authors:** WolfPilot06 and Lazuli  
**Pairings:** SasuNaru and LeeSaku  
**Warnings:** AU, shonen ai, language, medspeak  
**Notes:** We actually RPed quite a lot of this before break, but then I disappeared for a month or so. XD; Finally, we wrote more. And no, we've still no idea where we're going with this story.

* * *

When Naruto next awoke, his head was pounding, and he had no idea where he was. For one, he was somewhat comfortable (if sweating slightly and almost nauseous from the headache). Two, nothing around him seemed familiar. The last thing he remembered was that waiter…

"You're awake." Surprisingly, there was no 'dumb ass' attached to the phrase, and Naruto wondered if he really had met up with Sasuke.

"No shit, Sherlock," Naruto rasped, groaning as his head throbbed again. "Thanks for stating the obvious. Congratulations. You are now fully qualified to be an EMT."

Sasuke snorted and moved away; a moment later, a cool, dribbling towel was placed against Naruto's forehead. He welcomed the soothing chill with a whimpering sigh, sinking back into soft sheets in relief.

Naruto almost drifted off into sleep again, but he forced his eyes open and followed Sasuke's movements as best as he could. "Why am I here?" He asked, cursing that fact that he couldn't move with the way the sheets weighed him down, and his body wasn't obeying him anyhow. "Why'd you help me?" He couldn't help the suspicious note that crept into his voice. All he'd done to Sasuke was make him come out into the cold to deliver food that Naruto constantly forgot.

He could vaguely make out Sasuke shrugging.

"I was bored?" the man suggested dryly.

"Bullshit." Naruto rasped and closed his eyes again, just wanting the headache to go away. "Did you do something to me?" He never felt so bad before.

"Oh, yes," Sasuke said sarcastically, annoyed at Naruto's complete lack of trust in him. It wasn't as if he was a serial rapist or anything, "I molested you in your sleep. I also dressed you up in a fluffy pink dress, took pictures, and posted them on the internet." He was half-tempted to smack Naruto over the head for sheer stupidity as the boy gasped painfully and struggled to untangle himself from the sheets. "_No_, you dumb ass. You've been unconscious on my bed for two days. Even if I _was _some kind of serial rapist or something, I wouldn't want to do anything to someone who was coughing up bloody phlegm, sweating buckets, and threatening to die with each passing breath."

"Didn't mean that..." Naruto whispered, wincing at the sharp edge Sasuke's voice had taken. "Mean... meant something nice. I... I haven't been sick in so long." He coughed again, explosions setting off in his head from the racking coughs.

Sasuke frowned at the deep, hoarse quality to Naruto's coughs. It sounded as if he was attempting to hack up his lungs.

"You told me that you've had this cough since you were a child," Sasuke said sharply. "Are you saying it's never been this bad?"

Naruto shook his head, cheeks flushed with the fever he had. "Always coughed..." He whispered. "Jus' never let it get this bad before. Used to have medicine for it. Can't remember... when..." His voice faded and then was interrupted by another spasm of coughing.

Sasuke swore quietly for a moment before standing abruptly.

"I'm bringing you to the hospital," he snapped, a faint hint of worry lacing his tone. "I think you might have pneumonia."

Naruto's eyes opened wide at that and he attempted to shake his head. "Jus' need medicine..." He insisted. "Liquids..." Vague, hazy memories of someone telling him how to take care of his coughs surfaced for a moments. "Can't... aff'rd hospitals." He was too out of it to realize that he was broadcasting his poor state to Sasuke.

"I'll pay for it," Sasuke said absently, already dialing the ambulance. He didn't have a car; he hated driving, and it was too difficult to find parking most of the time. "I'm not letting you die on my bed just because you were too stubborn to go to a hospital."

"Then take me home." Naruto muttered, closing his eyes again and refusing to look at Sasuke. "Don' wanna taint your pretty house or anythin'."

Sasuke did the smart thing and ignored this particularly brilliant statement. Instead, he sat on the side of the bed and reached out to feel Naruto's forehead, frowning.

"Your temperature keeps rising," he murmured, half to himself, "I've given you ibuprofen, pumped you full of enough water to float a small boat in, and tried to bring down your temperature with cool baths, and you just keep getting hotter."

"Why, thank you," Naruto mumbled, somehow managing to be cheeky even in his semi-comatose state. He was feeling too ill to further protest being brought to the hospital, a wave of faint nausea washing over him. Sasuke snorted again, but this time he sounded amused.

Naruto half-opened his eyes again to stare at Sasuke. "You're kinda... nice..." He murmured, before falling asleep again.

Sasuke snorted softly to himself. Figures he'd get some sort of compliment while the idiot was running a fever practically hot enough to boil water with. The blond even slept through the paramedics coming inside the apartment to take them both to the hospital.

* * *

Sasuke was half-asleep in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs when the doctor came in, and he blinked blurry eyes up at the older man. "What's the news?" He asked, cursing the way his voice slurred slightly. He hadn't really slept since he brought the sick blond to his house.

"Well - as you've probably already figured out, he's rather ill. You said that he told you that he was often sick as a child? Colds, fevers, and such?"

Sasuke shrugged uncomfortably.

"I don't really know the details," he said reluctantly. "He mentioned that he had medicine for it when he was younger, but he doesn't seem to know the reason for his illness."

The doctor looked thoughtful and rubbed his forehead. "It could be any number of things, then, and I'd have to do a more through examination to figure out the exact problem. But it looks like whatever medicine he had, it ran out a long time ago, leaving his immune system unable to fight this. Your friend is very sick right now. Who's taking care of him?"

"I think he lives alone." Sasuke said quietly, staring at his hands helplessly and clenching them suddenly. The doctor was silent for a long moment.

"Young man, you've been giving me a lot of uncertainties since you arrived," the doctor said sternly. "Tell me the truth. Who is that boy? A hooker that you picked up on the street and felt sorry for? Because if that's the case, I can start looking into the possibilities of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases."

Sasuke's head shot up.

"No!" he half-shouted, and then paused, forcing himself to take a deep breath to calm down. "No. He's a regular patron at the restaurant where I work. I happened across a bunch of thugs beating him up in an alley and went to help him, and I've spent the last few days taking care of him."

"You don't know who he is, other than he frequents the place you work at?" The doctor asked, eyebrows raising. "He could still be a hooker or someone homeless - he's suffering from malnutrition along with whatever he has." The doctor put a fatherly hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "While it's admirable that you're taking care of him like this, you have to think about your own safety as well."

Sasuke glared at the doctor, eyes narrowed as he brushed the hand away. "Well, aren't you the angel of mercy?" He asked acidly. "He's not some type of hooker and he isn't about to murder me in his bed. I trust him and while he's a bit of a dumb ass - he's a harmless dumb ass. If you won't take care of him, I'll get whatever I need to take care of him at my place."

The doctor put up his hands peaceably, looking apologetic.

"I didn't mean to imply that we wouldn't take care of him, or that we look down on him, whatever his profession is or isn't," the man said. "I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the danger. Anyway, we're going to have to keep him in the hospital for at least one night to observe him; we gave him medicine to help break his fever." The doctor paused, looking thoughtful. "I'll be honest, young man. There's something very wrong with your friend. We'll need to run a lot of tests on him. You can keep him company if you like - I'll have a nurse roll a cot in for you - but I must warn you: we don't know if his sickness is contagious or not."

Sasuke shrugged at that, unconcerned. "If it is, then I've already been exposed, haven't I?" He asked reasonably. "I spent three days taking care of him and I'm not about to leave him alone so that he has to fend for himself." He looked off for a moment, voice less sure. "He's been alone for a long time, I think."

The doctor gave him a half-sympathetic, half-measuring look.

"Young man, what's your name?" he smiled, "I think we'd both rather my not calling you 'young man' all the time."

"Sasuke," he replied quietly, "Uchiha Sasuke."

That gave the doctor pause for a moment. Sasuke gave him a steady look, an elegantly arched eyebrow daring him to say something about his name.

The doctor gave a faint smile. "Well, Uchiha-san... " He paused and didn't comment on the name. "I trust that you'll have the facilities at your house set up before we release Naruto into your care."

Sasuke was silent, frowning down at his hands in apparent irritation. Finally, he straightened up with a quiet, annoyed sigh.

"Have the paramedics deliver Naruto to the Uchiha mansion tomorrow," he said crisply, standing and sliding his hands into his pockets. "I will prepare the facilities tonight for his reception and care."

With a brief, dismissive nod, Sasuke left, stalking through the emergency room doors with the hunting grace of a young panther.

Behind him, the doctor shook his head.

"To think," he murmured to himself, "The Uchiha heir was working in a restaurant all these years."

* * *

A few hours later, and under the effect of the drugs, Naruto woke up and turned blurry eyes on the doctor. "What the helI?" He muttered, struggling to sit up. "Why am I in the hospital?"

"Well, m'boy," said the doctor with far too much cheer for someone working on an incredibly ill patient. "You were close to dying, but your friend, Uchiha-san, brought you here and saved your life. You should be glad."

"Uchiha-san?" Naruto stared at him. "Who the hell is that?" He only remembered the over-bossy waiter. "Sasuke-bastard took me to his house and was yammering something..." Apparently the flow of words was too much for him, and he started coughing again, face turning slightly red with the effort.

The doctor sighed; it was only then that Naruto realized that he was wearing a facemask.

"Naruto-san," he began to say gently. Naruto interrupted.

"_Uzumaki _is my family name," he snapped, unwilling to admit that the doctor's grave tone was scaring him. "Not Naruto."

The doctor frankly stared at him.

"_Uzumaki?_" he exclaimed, and then caught himself. "Uh, yes. U-Uzumaki-san, I'm afraid I have bad news."

Naruto frowned at him, eyes narrowing and then focusing on the mask - or as much as he could with the woozy feeling the drugs gave him. "Spit it out already." He snapped. "And stop... staring. What's with... the mask...?" He hated the way his breath came short like this. It hadn't happened in so long...

"Uzumaki-san," the doctor sighed, folding his hands in his lap. "I'm afraid you have tuberculosis. While it's not fatal, it does mean that you'll have to undergo some rather intensive drug treatments to ensure that the disease goes away entirely. I'm afraid that we caught it rather late - it seems as if the disease has been lying dormant in your system for years, and something recently just triggered its reactivation. If Uchiha-san hadn't brought you in when he did, it is entirely possible you would have died."

Naruto stared at the sheets, fists clenching for a moment. "So?" He muttered. "So I got sick - a little cough wouldn't have hurt me." He stared directly at the doctor. "If you pull up my reports - which I'm sure there is something around here somewhere, now that you know my last name - I've always had trouble breathing. I've always gotten over it." His hands clenched the blankets tighter. "I can't afford to stay in the hospital." The last was bit out. "And I don't accept charity."

The doctor frankly stared before he caught himself.

"Uzumaki-san," he said, "It's true that you might have had weak lungs when you were younger, but this has only rendered you more susceptible to lung diseases. You have contracted pneumonia several times in the past, am I correct?"

Naruto nodded silently, feeling very pale and cold.

"These onslaughts of pneumonia may have weakened your lungs slightly, and then you were exposed to tuberculosis a few years ago. The disease lay dormant in your system and just reactivated." The doctor looked grim, "So, no, Uzumaki-san, it is not merely a 'little cough' that you have. It is a potentially fatal disease. And as for your hospital bills - Uchiha-san has already covered all your expenses, a fairly generous move, seeing as you seem to lack medical insurance."

"Stupid, interfering bastard!" Naruto shouted, trying to get up to move, but with the IV in his arm and the sudden, racking coughs that overtook his system, it was impossible. "I didn't ask for anyone's help, I don't _need _anyone's help - " He coughed again, and he sat quietly for a few moments, body shaking. "No one ever offered to help me, anyway." He muttered. "People aren't like that, _doctor_."

"Well," the doctor said gently, standing, "Your friend seemed extremely concerned when he brought you in. He's arranged for you to be transferred to his own personal facilities later today and has offered to take care of you until you are better again. Apparently, Uchiha-san _is _'like that', Uzumaki-san. You might think on that as you rest," the doctor smiled and, picking up his clipboard from Naruto's bedside table, left.

Naruto stared at the door long after it closed, wondering just what was going on to have this turn of events happen to him. So the stupid waiter was _Uchiha_-san or whatever the doctor said... and he was concerned enough that he took Naruto to the hospital?

_Probably didn't want a dead body in his house or on his conscience or something._

Having suitably reassured himself that humanity sucked, and that Sasuke was just like everyone else with ulterior motives, Naruto painstakingly turned onto his side and tried to go to sleep.

* * *

Sasuke didn't want to be back at the estates, didn't want to deal with anything that came with it - but Naruto…He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Naruto was sick and he didn't want to leave him in the hospital with that staff.

The estate stretched out before him, silent and gloomy, as it had been for years. Although he had dismissed the staff four years ago, it had been easy enough to find and rehire the old butler and a few maids. They'd spent most of the morning and afternoon scrubbing out the private medical facilities, as well as a few of the bedrooms. Sasuke had forbade them from even entering his parents' former bedroom; he had no desire to stir up the ghosts of the past.

It would be rather nice to have someone else in the house - and once Naruto was better - He shied away from that thought before it really had a chance to form. Sakura would be surprised to hear that he was moving back in, and he'd never hear the end of it once she found out that he was taking care of Naruto there as well.

The sound of tires crunching gravel broke into his concentration, and he turned absently to see an ambulance driving rather slowly up the long, winding driveway towards the mansion. Patiently, he awaited Naruto's arrival, filing away the decision to call to Sakura for a later time, when Naruto was safely ensconced within his family's personal medical facilities.

He vaguely wondered about why he was doing this, why he actually took Naruto in before - Sasuke wasn't usually prone to doing random acts of charity, and he could almost hear Sakura's voice in the back of his head, taunting him for his stalker-ish tendencies.

_If the dumb ass mentions anything about my being an Uchiha, I'll kick him unconscious again. _Sasuke thought viciously.

The ambulance pulled in front of him with a final crunch, a pair of paramedics hopping out and staring briefly at the dark, gloomy mansion. Sasuke glared at them until they galvanized themselves into opening the back of the ambulance and carting a rather ill and peeved Naruto out.

"Stupid persistent bastard," Naruto mumbled, his eyes dazed. Clearly, they had drugged him with sedatives, presumably to calm him for the transfer, but actually because they had simply gotten tired of his loud complaints. He shook his head sluggishly, scowling vaguely at his sheet-covered toes. "Told you I was fine..."

"In here," Sasuke told the paramedics curtly, leading them up the broad marble ramp by the stairs and into the passably warm stone hallways of the Uchiha mansion.

"I could have walked myself, if you hadn't drugged me, you idiots." Naruto muttered, head woozy and making him more pissed off. He hated charity, hated people doing things for him when he didn't deserve it. Uzumaki Naruto would have gotten through this the same way he got through everything else in his messed up life. Alone.

Sasuke simply gave him a look. "As well as you were walking earlier, _without _the aid of drugs?" He asked dryly. And just to piss the blond off - because he hadn't done it in awhile- "Dumb ass."

"I told you, bastard - !" Suddenly more lucid than a moment ago, Naruto half-lifted himself from the cot before a violent fit of coughing wracked his body. Sasuke's smirk melted into a worried tilt of his brows as he watched Naruto double over from the force of his coughs, sounding as if he were attempting to hack up his lungs. One of the paramedics began to rub him on the back soothingly, exchanging looks with the other man, who led Sasuke to another room and pressed a face mask into his hand.

"You don't seem to have caught it yet, young man," the paramedic explained, looking slightly worried, "But tuberculosis is known to be extremely contagious. It's best that you take some precautions. Wash your hands often, and always wear this mask around him. If you can, keep him away from other people until he's a few weeks into the medication regime."

Sasuke nodded wordlessly, slipping the mask over his face before re-entering the hallway. Naruto had collapsed against the cot, his eyes closed as he gasped shallowly for air, his face pale and worn.

"You can't even retort without coughing," came Sasuke's slightly muffled voice. "Naruto - just lay back and shut up until you get better." He crossed his arms over his chest as he led the paramedic to the prepared room and waited until Naruto was transferred to the bed. "You're just going to make yourself worse."

If Naruto wasn't half drugged and sick and completely out of it, he would have demanded why Sasuke was pretending to be concerned. He was about to mention something when his eyes glazed over suddenly, the last set of medications suddenly kicking in, and he stared at Sasuke with an uncertain gaze.

"Where th' lef'overs...?" He murmured.

Sasuke looked startled briefly before an almost pained, rueful look passed over his face.

"Ah," he said quietly, "I left them back in the restaurant. I'll bring them out later."

"Good... thanks fo'…bringin' 'em all the time..." Naruto murmured, finally falling into a more restful sleep with the aid of the drugs.

Sasuke stared at the still face for a moment, chest still moving unevenly from the recent bout of coughing and then looked back up at the paramedics. "How long should this last?"

"The, uh, disorientation?" replied one of the paramedics, looking vaguely confused as he glanced between the unconscious patient and the Uchiha scion. "Not too long. The meds should wear off in a few hours; we only gave them to him to ease the transfer. The antibiotics - well, they have a lot of side effects. Unfortunately, standard treatment of tuberculosis includes a regime of three drugs, and they all come with a rather nasty gamut of side effects."

Sasuke frowned at the paramedic, though he wasn't really irritated like the man thought he was, and lifted an eyebrow, prompting further explanation.

"Well, uh, he's taking isoniazid, pyra-"

"What are the side effects?" Sasuke interrupted, his dark brows drawing more tightly together, "I don't care what medications he's taking. I just want to know what I might have to deal with."

"Right," said the man distractedly. His companion seemed all too content to let him deal with the irritated Uchiha heir by himself, busying himself with tucking the sheets around Naruto's sleeping form. "Uh, well, possible seizures, psychosis, um, photosensitivity, gastric irritation...fever, flu-like symptoms, uh...among other things."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.

He rubbed his head, frowning even more deeply now. "I think I'll be able to handle it from here." He said shortly, not really wanting to hear anything else the apparently sadistic paramedic wanted to toss out at him. "If there are any problems, I assure you that I will call the hospital." He paused and then managed to grunt out a thank you.

The first paramedic finished setting Naruto up and handed Sasuke an array of medications. "Directions are on the bottle, number for the primary doctor - check back in a few days and report on how he's doing." He actually looked a little reluctant to leave Naruto in the care of the Uchiha. "He seems like a good kid. Kept on mumbling about forgetting his leftovers."

A brief, unconscious smile flitted across Sasuke's face before he busied himself with brushing a few wayward strands of hair away from Naruto's face.

"Yeah, well, he's weird like that," he grunted, and missed the knowing glance the two paramedics exchanged. When he settled into the chair next to Naruto's bed and made it clear that he intended to personally watch over Naruto, the paramedics quietly left.

* * *

It was a week later when Sasuke came in the room to find Naruto trying to climb out of bed, face red and sweating. "Stupid prick!" He shouted as soon as he saw Sasuke. "I'm not going to be trapped in here all the time! I've gotten better."

Naruto found by holding his breath for short amounts of time, he could hold back the coughs and thereby sound better. It still left him sounding like he was gasping for air half the time, but he wasn't aware of it and thought he sounded better.

Sasuke gently pushed him back on the bed with a mocking smirk, though Naruto couldn't tell with the black bandana Sasuke had taken to wearing covering the bottom half of his face. Still, Naruto could see the teasing gleam in Sasuke's eyes and scowled, struggling and cursing when he found himself too weak to fight against Sasuke's almost insultingly gentle attempts to tuck the sheets around him tight enough to render him immobile.

"Idiot," Sasuke murmured, briefly resting his hand against Naruto's forehead to check his temperature. "You're going to be stuck in bed at least until you don't sound like an old man wheezing upon trying to sit up. On top of that, you're going to be taking your delicious medicine for another five months and a half, if not longer."

Naruto swore at him, the beautifully crafted epithets ruined by another bout of coughing. Sasuke smiled beatifically and handed him a glass of water.

Naruto coughed again, this bout slightly worse than that last, since he'd actually spent the last ten minutes trying to get himself out of bed and had exceeded his strength. He scowled and waved away Sasuke's hand.

"I'll be fine." He said gruffly, taking a longer drink of the water. "It happened before when I was a kid, but never this bad." He eyed the bottles of medication and the rest of Sasuke's words hit him. "That long?" He demanded. "Why... " He paused to cough. "Why that damn long?"

An elegant eyebrow hitched up in disbelief.

"The doctor explained what was wrong with you," he said, poking Naruto in the forehead with one finger. "Did you not hear a word he said, or are you simply too stupid to understand?"

"It'll go away faster than a stupid six month wait of being stuck in bed and taking stupid medicines." Naruto muttered. "And what is it, really?" He asked, scowling down at his sheets. "I just know that it's that potentially dangerous blah blah blah cough stuff."

"You won't be stuck in bed for six months," Sasuke said in exasperation, "You only have to take the medicine for six months. Honestly, idiot, you should really pay attention when the topic on hand is your own _health_."

Naruto looked as if he wanted to stuff the entire bottle of pills down Sasuke's throat and maybe cram his foot in afterwards. Sasuke returned his glare with faint disdain and amusement.

"_Tuberculosis_, Naruto. You've heard of it, no?"

"A bit." Naruto said softly, tapping his fingers on the sheets. "I looked it up one time 'cause I wasn't sure what it was and someone told me that I couldn't get some jobs if I had it." He gave a faint shrug at that, grimacing. "Guess I couldn't have worked in your fancy restaurant, huh? With me being all stupid-sick."

Sasuke sighed, running a hand through his hair absently and accidentally causing the hair at the back of his head to stand up at an even more radical angle.

"Well, no, not now," he admitted, "But it's entirely possible that if you'd accepted my offer before, you wouldn't have triggered your tuberculosis, because you would've been in better health overall from being fed regularly and all." He arched an eyebrow. "After all, like the doctor explained, it was dormant in you and not contagious before it somehow got retriggered."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the way Sasuke's hair stood up and had to suppress a smile, lest the bastard figure it out and actually fix it. "Just say it - I know you're dying to... I was stupid and couldn't take care of myself." His blue eyes were accusing, and he was about to say more when he starting coughing again.

_This is really starting to annoy me. _Naruto thought. _I can't speak three sentences without my lungs trying to climb into my throat. Painfully._

Sasuke sighed and raked a hand through his hair again, unaware that with each pass of his hand, he looked more and more like an oddly colored, humanoid rooster.

"Well, I think the both of us realize that you were acting fairly stupid," he said matter-of-factly, "But it's also equally evident that you're used to fending for and taking care of yourself. You've managed to survive this long. It was long overdue that somebody took care of you."

Naruto's mouth dropped open and he gaped at Sasuke, a little more than stunned, his cheeks flushed slightly with the force of his illness. "But... why?" He asked, genuinely confused. "People... don't do that."

The dark-haired man gave him a long, measuring look. Though he was hardly a socialite, Sasuke found himself astonished by the sheer lack of understanding of social interaction Naruto was displaying.

"People weren't born to live alone, Naruto," he said quietly. "As much as we'd like to think we're strong enough to carry on by ourselves, in the end, it's our friends who provide us with strength. It took me a long time to learn that."

Sasuke gave him another long look, debating whether or not to ask Naruto about just how long he'd been alone - and then finally decided that since the idiot was staying in his house, he had every right to.

Naruto grew uneasy at that, hedging around the subject. "A... a long time." He muttered. "Ya know... you know how people are, right? Determined to make sure that you do stuff on your own and you're..." He took a quick drink of water to stave off the coughing. "And that you're stronger for it. Don't have friends, anyhow. Ya gotta make it on your own."

There was a moment of silence as Sasuke contemplated this, frowning at how accurately Naruto's words reflected his old view on life.

"I guess that's good for some things," Sasuke said dubiously. "But like I said. You can't carry on like that forever. Even a bridge wears away and falls without the supports keeping it up."

"Well, sometimes people don't offer supports to the damn bridge." Naruto glared at Sasuke for not picking up the simple fact that Naruto was _always _alone. "Except for you." He said reluctantly.

Sasuke shrugged, uncomfortable with the subject at hand, and looked away.

"Listen," he said after a moment, "How about a deal? You take your medication without pathetically attempting to beat the shit out of me, and I'll get a wheelchair and bring you outside for a few hours. It's beginning to thaw, already, and the crocuses are beginning to bloom - oof!"

Naruto snorted at the way Sasuke rubbed his middle. "Gee, how nice of you to treat the invalid to your Mistress Mary impersonation. I'll be fine, Sasuke." He muttered. "I'll just take the damn meds and get it over with."

He hated the way the meds made him say funny things and the last time he had a fever along with it.

Sasuke glared at him, still pressing a hand against his stomach in the unlikely event that Naruto decided to punch him again.

"Forgive me for trying to be nice," he bit out, a little pissed off. "I'll be sure not to do that again in the near future."

Naruto frowned a bit, then looked up at Sasuke. "S'ry..." he muttered and grabbed one of the bottles, peering at the label for a moment. "Hey...how long's it going to take you to pay you back for all this?"

Sasuke waved a hand dismissively.

"I have more money that I know what to do with. Consider it a Christmas present or something."

For some reason that Sasuke couldn't fathom, Naruto scowled at that.

"Nice to know you have money to throw around." He muttered.

"It's useless and stupid," Sasuke snorted. He looked annoyed suddenly. "I did some research on you, Naruto, to see if you had any next-of-kin or suchlike to inform about your sickness. You know, I don't get it. Pride's one thing, but what in the world inspired you to _starve _yourself and to sleep in that crummy rat-hole you call an apartment?"

Naruto gave him a bewildered look, angry now as well. "Because some of us don't have a choice." He snapped. "Some of us don't have tons of money backed up or floating around or gods know what else! Some of us _have _to work for jobs and don't have anywhere else to live!"

Sasuke gave him a completely confused look, looking as if Naruto had just grown an extra head and was hitting on him outrageously.

"Do you - _are _you really Uzumaki Naruto, or is that a name you're just using for the hell of it?" he asked suspiciously.

Naruto returned the look. "Why the hell would I lie about my name, bastard?" He demanded, eyes narrowed on Sasuke. "It's my name and I'm sorry if my name seems like I should be doing so much more."

"You - " Sasuke cut himself off, obviously frustrated and befuddled, staring at Naruto as if he didn't quite know what to do with him. "Are you suffering from amnesia? No, wait, you can't be - you remember your name," Sasuke answered himself, shaking his head, "Okay, do you know who you are?"

Naruto rubbed his head as if it hurt, staring at Sasuke a few moments longer than strictly necessary.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he said slowly. "I eat at the restaurant you work at, I have crappy jobs, and for some reason - you're taking care of me 'cause I got sick."

Sasuke let out an exasperated sigh, dropping his head into his hand and rubbing at his temples with some agony. After a moment, he lifted his gaze again, pinning Naruto with intent onyx eyes.

"Try this," he said flatly, "You're Uzumaki Naruto, son of the former mayor, heir to the million-dollar Uzumaki fortune, kidnapped at the age of seven and never recovered before the mayor's assassination. Ring a bell?"

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

Comments and criticism welcome as always.

Wolf and Lazuli


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Leftovers (3?)

**Authors:** WolfPilot06 and Lazuli

**Pairings:** SasuNaru, LeeSaku

**Warnings:** AU, shonen ai, some language, illness, and rampant nerdy references

**Notes:** Wolfie would like to apologize for the gratuitous references to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and Monkey Island. She was in a rather wacky mood when we wrote this, so all nerdy references can be blamed on her. That said, enjoy!

(Also, it's rather sad, but we actually finished this part about a month ago and completely forgot about it.)

--

Naruto's face went blank, eyes glazing for a moment. "Just because someone has... a familiar name ..." He said softly, "It doesn't mean a thing. Don't you remember that the mayor's son already came back?"

Sasuke gave him a flat stare. "Don't you recall that they found he was a fake?" He returned.

"Don't you recall that the fortune was never recovered?" Naruto shot back, trying to hide how uneasy he felt at Sasuke's suggestion. "Even if I was that Uzumaki heir dude - and I swear, the name's a coincidence - there's nothing for me to come back for. I'd still be a sick, poor son of a bitch living in a rat-infested apartment. I'd just be a famous sick, poor son of a bitch living in a rat-infested apartment."

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "I'm not going to argue you with you right now. If you want to pretend like you're not _that _Uzumaki, then fine."

"I'm not pretending!" Naruto flared, and then went into an extended fit of violent coughing, doubling over and clutching at his aching stomach as he tried desperately to calm his irritated lungs. Sasuke sighed, instantly regretting riling the obviously upset boy up as he leaned forward to rub his back soothingly, gently stroking a hand over sweat-dampened locks of hair.

When the coughing finally stopped, Naruto lay back onto the bed with Sasuke's help, pale and exhausted.

"Look, I'm sorry I upset you," Sasuke said stiffly; despite everything, it still wasn't easy for him to swallow his pride and apologize. "If you say you're not the Uzumaki heir, then fine; you'd know better than I would. But you can't deny that it's a weird coincidence. How many people have the surname Uzumaki?"

Naruto shrugged, the fight gone out of him. "I can't say I know many." He said dryly. "I don't get around the higher social circles, y'know?" He closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly falling asleep before he opened them to focus blearily on Sasuke. "But you'd think I'd remember growing up as some rich kid's son."

Sasuke gave into the impulse to reach forward and brush a strand of unruly hair away from Naruto's face, his expression softening slightly. Naruto's eyes were already drifting shut again, though, and he couldn't see the inexplicable expression on Sasuke's face as the older boy sighed and stood up.

"It's been a long time, Naruto," he said quietly. "People forget a lot of things over the course of time. Get some sleep. You need your rest."

Resisting the urge to tuck the sheets more firmly around Naruto's slumbering form once more, Sasuke turned and left.

--

It was several hours later that Naruto woke up and discovered Sasuke wasn't in the room.

_This is my chance. _He thought with a faint grin. Granted--he was still weak and he doubted if he could stand, much less sneak out of the house--but ... he didn't like the question and accusations that Sasuke threw at him. He wasn't going to be dependent on someone, and he certainly wasn't going to take _charity_.

Tiptoeing over to the door, he peered into the darkened hallway for any sign of the maids or his irritable host and found none. It seemed as if the entire household had gone to sleep - entirely possible, he realized, upon spotting the luminescent red glow of the infirmary clock, seeing as it was well past midnight.

He found his old clothes - washed and carefully patched by one of the maids - folded in one of the cupboards by the veranda door and changed as quickly as his already slightly woozy head would allow. As he paused to snatch up the medication bottles that Sasuke had left at his bedside, he realized that his shoes were nowhere to be found.

_Shit_, he thought miserably, peering through the veranda doors at the moonlit garden outside, _I hope it's fucking warm outside._

It was likely; the weather had been warming up before he ended up in the hospital and so it shouldn't be too bad. At least it wasn't the middle of winter like when he first met Sasuke. He left silently, closing the doors with a silent 'click' as soon as he slipped out. It _was _slightly chilly outside, but nothing he couldn't handle.

He only got a few steps before his head reeled and he had to lean on one of the little wicker tables that all rich people seemed to have on their verandas.

"You know," said an all-too-familiar voice from the shadows, "A smart person would wait until they felt well enough to sit up before trying to run away from their benefactor's care. Then again, I don't suppose you count yourself as a smart person."

Naruto froze and took several deep breaths so that he wouldn't cough and ruin the act. "I was just getting some fresh air." He said quickly. "I... it was stifling..." He clenched one fist and tried to take a step forward, nearly toppling over as he did so.

A darker shadow detached from the rest swiftly, catching him before he could fall flat on his face. With an exasperated sigh, Sasuke sat him in one of the wicker chairs and snapped out a blanket that he'd obviously been holding for this very event, covering Naruto's lap with it carefully.

"Of course," he said, a very faint hint of sarcasm in his quiet voice, "I should have realized you wanted fresh air at one in the morning."

"I fell asleep early." Naruto defended himself, but he realized it fell rather flat. "What are you doing out here this late?" He asked, staring at the blanket in his lap. He shouldn't accept this so easily—but... but! He was Uzumaki Naruto, and he was strong enough to handle stuff like this on his own.

"I had a feeling you'd want to take a walk sometime after the rest of us had gone to sleep," Sasuke said dryly. "You're not very good at accepting help."

"Would you accept it so easily if you were in my place?" Naruto's unexpected and direct question surprised Sasuke. Naruto didn't wait for an answer and shook his head. "It's just not easy for me, okay? I mean—I grew up all my life breathing crappy and stuff and no one helped before. Unless, y'know—if they were expecting some sort of payment." His eyes focused on Sasuke. "But... I don't think you want payment and that's what's throwing me off."

He had to pause in his long speech for another coughing fit and one hand tightened around the bottles he was holding.

Sasuke sighed, sitting in another chair across from Naruto.

"I do have an ulterior motive," he admitted blandly, leaning back and crossing his legs elegantly. Naruto eyed him suspiciously, even as his heart sank slightly. He knew it. Sasuke was just like the rest.

He found a pale hand thrust in his face, the unexpected gesture causing him to look reflexively up at Sasuke's face in confusion. The other man arched a dark eyebrow, the perfectly quizzical look somehow accentuated by the bandana bound across the lower half of Sasuke's face.

"Friends?"

"Friends?" Naruto echoed dumbly. "I ... you want me to be...?" He shook his head briefly. "But you're _rich_." He said bluntly. He couldn't imagine what Sasuke'd get out of being friends with Naruto.

Sasuke snorted and shook his head, ignoring the latter part of Naruto's statement. "Yeah, dumb ass. I said friends. Is that too hard of a word for you?" He grasped Naruto's hand.

Naruto jerked his hand slightly, though not enough to pull entirely out of Sasuke's grasp. Narrow blue eyes studied Sasuke's face intently for the real reason behind Sasuke's actions.

With a sigh, Sasuke let Naruto's hand slide from his, sitting back and running his fingers through his dark mane of hair, unconsciously aggravating the hairs into stick out further again.

"Look, Naruto," he said matter-of-factly, "I don't care if I'm rich. If you didn't notice, I work in a restaurant. A really small restaurant, even if it serves the best damned food in the city. I could live in this mansion twenty-four-seven if I wanted to, but instead, I choose to live in a crummy, basic-utilities apartment near the red light district. Why? Because money means shit when you don't have anyone to enjoy life with. As Uchiha Sasuke, I have flunkies and well-dressed whores at my beck and call. As a nameless waiter in a restaurant, I've got _friends_. This nameless waiter wants you to be one of them. Funny sounding, yeah, but that's all there is to it. Hell, you'll even get free ramen out of the deal."

Naruto's lips turned up at the descriptions that Sasuke gave himself--both as the 'nameless waiter' and Uchiha Sasuke. "I bet you like the whores." He couldn't help teasing. "Other than that, I guess you'd be bored. I mean... friends are important... and..." He suddenly grasped Sasuke's hand tightly. "And hell... I'd be your friend without the free ramen. Now, can we go back inside 'cause my feet are freezing!"

After a brief moment of stunned surprise - he really hadn't expected Naruto to give into his offer of friendship so easily - Sasuke laughed, pressing a hand against his forehead as the sound tumbled from his lips, marveling at how odd the sensation was. It had been _years_ since he'd last laughed, and yet, with Naruto, it felt natural. He was unaware that Naruto was watching him with a look of positive astonishment on his face as he laughed quietly, a faint blush that had little to do with humility rising on the blonde's cheeks. Finally, he stood straight, practically grinning at Naruto as he helped his new friend to his feet.

"Yeah, okay," he said, smiling, "Let's get you inside, infirm one."

Naruto scowled at that. "I'm not infirm! You just stole my shoes!" He let Sasuke help him back and even get him under the covers.

"Being sick sucks," he muttered, disgusted with himself. "You're always tired and it _hurts _and I'm really tired of all this stupid coughing."

Sasuke gave him a vaguely sympathetic look as he placed a new glass of water on his nightstand.

"The doctor said it'll be like that for a bit," he said rather apologetically, "With the three drugs you're taking, we don't really dare pile more on top of them. I'm afraid you're going to have to bear out the coughing with sheer fortitude."

Naruto wrinkled his nose at that. "How long?" He asked, eyes focused directly on Sasuke this time. "I don't want to be... a burden." The last was said softer, but with more determination. "I'll get better faster than you say."

Sasuke shrugged helplessly.

"The doctor said that six months is the norm," he said, "But he's already fairly impressed by your progress. It might be less. You have an appointment with him next week to see how the medications are working."

Naruto sighed and played with the edge of the blanket. "I'm sorry." He muttered, but the momentarily despondency seemed to pass and he looked up at Sasuke with a bright smile. "But friends help each other out like this, right?"

Sasuke sighed again, but it was more out of fond exasperation than real frustration this time.

"Yes," he said simply, "Which is why you need to get this weird idea that you're a burden out of your head."

"Not promising anything." Naruto said with a faint echo of his smile. "But I'll try."

"You should get some sleep, Sasuke," he murmured, half asleep himself. "I won't run away again, I promise."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were getting fresh air." He said dryly.

"That too," Naruto said with a faint grin, blue eyes opening briefly. "Now go to bed, you great hulking lump."

"Hey," Sasuke said, mildly miffed, "I may be great, but I'm not a hulking lump."

"Pfft, yeah, whatever. Sleep, Quasimodo."

"You actually know something like that?" Sasuke teased, hand briefly brushing over Naruto's forehead under the pretense of checking his temperature. "Go to sleep yourself. If you need anything, _don't _try and wander around to find it. I'd hate to tell the maids to clean around your prone body."

"Silence, you fool of a Took!" Naruto groaned, batting at Sasuke's hand. "Let me slumber in peace!"

"Your wish is my command, master," Sasuke said impishly. With a quiet chuckle, he left just as Naruto attempted to smack him with his pillow.

--

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto, slightly disbelieving. "So you said that you've been in college for the last couple of years?" He asked. "Early start, huh?"

Naruto snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. He was still in bed for the most part, but it was more rare now than it had been before. "Is that really surprising?" He asked, mock hurt.

Sasuke pretended to think about it for a moment.

"Yes, actually. I thought you'd be in remedial college or something." He ducked with a faint smirk as Naruto took a swing at his head. "Seriously, though."

"Nah, I'm nineteen. It's not really that early of a start. I have a late-ish birthday," Naruto explained, eyeing the bowl on his nightstand and wondering if it'd be impolite to ask Sasuke for more ramen. "I'm only a sophomore. Wait a second, how old are you? You can't be that much older than me!" A look of exaggerated horror crossed his face, "You're an old fogey, aren't you? A creepy old pedophile out after my handsome young ass!"

Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Of course, because I'm obviously both old and creepy."

"Well, maybe not old, but you _are _creepy - ah, papapishu!"

Sasuke retracted his hand from where he'd smacked Naruto over the head, a dark eyebrow arched.

"Monkey Island, Naruto?"

"Hey, it's a good game," Naruto defended, grinning despite the smack. "Anyways, you're avoiding the question. How old are you?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm twenty." He said dryly. "Not that much older than you. So get your pedophilic fantasies out of your head." He smirked faintly at the look that crossed Naruto's face at the implication that he wanted old men after him.

"So what are you in college for?" He continued, settling back in his chair. "You did make a lot of literary references earlier." He raised an eyebrow. "Again - not something I pegged you for."

"Is it really that obvious?" Naruto grinned, "I'm a literature major. A poor, starving writer looking to make his way in the world - literally."

Sasuke flicked him in the forehead after rolling his eyes again.

"_Bad _pun," he chided, smiling faintly, "I should dump you back out on the streets for that."

Naruto gave a giant mock-sigh of relief. "Finally! I was wondering when you were going to get tired of my moaning and whining." It was a tease--he'd largely gotten over his guilt of someone having to take care of him. "Really, though - I always read and took care of plants. But since I didn't see much use in landscaping gardens, I went for the literature major instead. What about you?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Business and finances major." He didn't sound particularly enthused, "I graduated two years early to get out from under my guardian's thumb and then became a waiter. Funny how things turn out."

"And you said _I _was an early start." Naruto snorted, nose tilted up in the air. "Somebody's been keeping secrets." He clucked his tongue and shook a finger at Sasuke. "I guess your guardian really sucked, huh? There are worse things then living on your own."

Sasuke gave another vague shrug and didn't bother to reply verbally. Instead, he pointed at the empty bowl that Naruto'd been eyeing longingly for the past ten minutes.

"You want another bowl? There must be enough ramen stocked in the servants' quarters to feed Japan's army for a decade."

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "It's nothing like the ramen you have at your restaurant, but it's pretty good. I ate it all the time at my place." His face fell a little. "I probably don't have a place _or _a place in my class to go back to now. Stupid sickness."

He gave Sasuke a pleading look. "Hey - since I'm doing so much better now, do you think I could go to my classes?" He knew the answer already – no - but he couldn't help but ask again. He was really proud of his college career.

Sasuke didn't bother mentioning that he'd paid the rent on Naruto's apartment for the next few months and also paid the rather sketchy landlord to repair the place, too - compared to Naruto's medical bills, the cost was tiny. Kakashi, his butler, was personally supervising the renovations, so he had no fear of the landlord cheating him out of his money.

"Not yet," he said, hedging, "It's only been two weeks since we admitted you to the hospital." At the downtrodden look on Naruto's face, Sasuke gave in. "Okay, at the end of the month, if the doctor gives you the okay, you can go back to college. For now, I'll just get the work you missed from your professors and pick up your textbooks from your apartment. How does that sound?"

Naruto made a face. "It's not the same if I can't go to the lectures... and there's all this stupid group work and ..." He fisted the sheets unhappily. "I've worked too hard to get held back now. But... " He shrugged and tried to force a bright smile on his face. "I guess my health is more important."

Judging by the look on Sasuke's face, he should have left out the 'guess'.

Sasuke held back an exasperated sigh - before meeting Naruto, he hadn't thought it possible for a person to have such a low opinion of himself.

"Serious illness is usually a passable excuse for missing school, Naruto," he reminded the irascible blond, "The professors will either not count the group-work into your grade or will come up with some kind of extra credit for you to do instead. It's hardly fair that you would miss out simply because you came down with a bad case of tuberculosis."

Naruto suddenly grinned - at some memory that came to mind at Sasuke's words. "I had this one professor that said she was a cynic and wouldn't accept any excuse unless it was a fabulous one that could be proved without a doubt. One student of hers said that he couldn't make a test because he was bailing his mom out of jail."

At Sasuke's snort and disbelieving look, he went on. "He had the bond slip to prove it, though."

Sasuke shook his head.

"I can't believe that." He gave Naruto a suspicious look, "You're pulling my leg, aren't you?"

"I'm afraid my mitts are nowhere near your lovely and ladylike leg, rooster head," Naruto grinned, throwing out the nickname he'd given Sasuke soon after the beginning of their friendship. "I speak the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Flying Spaghetti Monster."

There was a long silence as Sasuke stared at the unrepentantly grinning Naruto.

"Don't tell me," he finally said, a long-suffering look on his face, "You're also a firm believer in the Flying Spaghetti Monster doctrine."

"He reached out and touched me with His noodly appendage, yes He did."

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, making it stick out in a way that showed how he'd earned the rooster head nickname. "You..." he said with a grin, "Have way too much time on your hands. Don't you literature majors do _any _studying?" He asked.

Naruto pouted. "We do _reading_." He said loftily. "Or haven't you seen a book without large, complicated numbers in it?"

Sasuke adopted a look of utmost surprise on his face.

"They _exist?_ But I thought those were only a myth!"

Naruto held back his snicker, and instead shook his head sadly. "I don't know how you were let into the world - numbers aren't the only things that appear in books. I should teach you your letters in return for taking care of me. It's the least I could do."

"But the only language I know is written in hexadecimal!" Sasuke protested, "It would take too long to learn a new language. Let me instead teach you how to speak the language of the intelligent."

"Pfft. That's what I'm going to hire an accountant for. Someone is going to have to handle my finances when I'm incredibly rich." Naruto smirked at Sasuke. "You seem to like taking care of me. Care to handle the money of the famous writer Uzumaki Naruto?"

Sasuke leaned back and proceeded to tap his chin in mock-pensive thought.

"Hm, I've never heard of him. I don't think I want to handle the nonexistent money of a lackwit wannabe writer."

"Just you wait until someone else is dealing with me." Naruto said with a wide grin. "You'll regret the day you turned me away."

Sasuke couldn't help but give a mock leer. "Ah, but I can say I was the first to get you into bed."

Naruto nearly choked on that one, doubling over in laughter.

"Oh, but I'm sure you were raring for the chance to play nurse," Naruto laughed, grinning.

Sasuke gave him an arch look. "If I wanted to bathe unconscious, sick people for a living, I would have gone into medical school."

"Which is precisely why you became a waiter instead," Naruto smirked, "So you could drop a bowl of soup into a handsome customer's lap and then offer to clean it up."

"With my mouth or my hands?" Sasuke asked blandly, surprising the hell out of Naruto. He didn't know Sasuke was capable of that type of dry wit - his insults were usually limited to 'dumbass.'

"With both, I'm guessing." Naruto grinned.

"You notice I never tried that with you." Sasuke smirked. "Of course, it _would _have deprived me of running out into the cold to hand you your leftovers."

"And then the entire basis of our relationship would be shaken." Naruto shook his head in mock-sadness, "And we simply couldn't have that happening."

"What would I have done with my life?" Sasuke gave a melodramatic sigh. "I wouldn't have this fascinating insight into your mysterious life. I just thought you were like all customers - you ate and then vanished into thin air after paying."

"Actually, I just retreated to my coffin until the next time I needed to eat ramen," Naruto admitted, "The rest of the customers did do the vanishing thing, though. I saw 'em."

Sasuke's lips turned up in a brief smile at Naruto's quick retort. "No wonder why I only saw you after the sun went down!" He said in mock horror. "Just don't turn to ashes in my bed. It'd get in the cracks of the floors and _never _come out."

"Nah, no worries. I've got enough sun block to float a boat in." Naruto grinned, "No spontaneous combustion on my part."

Sasuke studied him critically. "A little thin and pasty looking - but I'm sure that's because you haven't snacked on any innocent or willing victims yet." He widened his eyes. "Or do I have to worry about you biting me in the middle of the night?"

"No, no, remember, I'm a Pastafarian," Naruto snickered, "I'm a ramen vampire."

There was a moment as Sasuke thought about that.

"Wait, I thought you were supposed to end your prayers with 'ramen', not eat it."

"I'm also supposed to go about dressed in full pirate regalia while converting people to FSMism, but you don't see me doing that, now, do you?"

"I think I'd kick you out of the house on just that basis." Sasuke said, eyeing Naruto. "Eating ramen all time isn't healthy - even with your ah... religious preferences." He fought back a grin. "I may have to convert you into eating meat every now and then."

"Hey, I eat meat once in a while," Naruto protested, "Pork ramen!"

Sasuke snorted. "I'm sure that's incredibly high up in the healthy range of food."

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but he started coughing instead. The sour look on his face showed his displeasure in the way his body betrayed him, especially when he was feeling better. It was a not-so-subtle reminder that he still wasn't well.

Sasuke sighed slightly, feeling somewhat disappointing that their bantering had been interrupted - yet again - by the ubiquitous sickness.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, handing Naruto a glass of water, "I think we got a little out of hand. I forgot that we need to breathe once in a while."

Naruto made a face as he drank the water, his cheeks slightly red. "It's not your fault." He muttered, embarrassed. "I just thought I was doing a lot better. It doesn't hurt as much as it did before."

But it still _did _hurt and that bugged Naruto a great deal. He was still coughing - it hurt to breathe sometimes - and he was tired of the whole thing. "I rather like joking with you. It's... it's kinda nice having someone near by that you can trust."

"Ah, but you know nothing of my nefarious plans for you," Sasuke joked, and then sighed when Naruto started coughing even more violently than before in the middle of a laugh. "You should probably rest."

"I'm not tired." Naruto protested, but his eyes were already drooping and he let Sasuke take away the glass of water from him as he settled more comfortably in the bed. "But you need some sleep. You've got these giant bags under your eyes. Are you sure _you're _not trying to run away with them?" He joked feebly.

"Bad pun _again_," Sasuke said, flicking Naruto gently in the forehead once more. "We need to get you a twelve-step program for that or something."

Naruto gave him an impish grin before yawning. "We'll have to work on that." He stifled his coughing behind his hand. "Go to sleep and think up some ideas how you can save my poor, unfortunate punny soul."

Sasuke yawned as well, stretching slightly as he blinked blearily around the infirmary and eyed the spare bed longingly.

"I think I'll just crash here," he said, standing up and pulling his arms back above his head, several muffled pops issuing as he cracked his vertebrae with a relieved sigh. "I'm too lazy to make the ten-mile hike to my own room."

"It does kinda suck to realize that I'd have to get a bullhorn to reach you if I wanted to talk." Naruto snickered. "Or send out a letter and hope it reaches you in time."

Sasuke smiled slightly.

"I should have an old-fashioned bellpull installed. Something that'll set some hidden bell deep within the mansion to ringing the moment you pull the cord." He yawned again and flopped facedown on the infirmary bed, scowling irritably as the over-starched sheets rubbed against his cheek. "That's it; we're getting you new sheets tomorrow. These pieces of paper masquerading as blankets can't be comfortable."

Naruto gave an embarrassed shrug at that. "They're not that bad." He muttered. " I mean - my coat's softer and all - but for bed sheets, they're kind of okay." He wasn't about to start complaining about the quality of the sheets when he was being taken care of.

"They suck," Sasuke proclaimed, "They're more suitable for a torture chamber than a human habitat. New sheets tomorrow. For now, try to sleep. I'll try not to toss and turn too much."

"I like having you here." Naruto said unexpectedly. "It's... um... kind of nice."

There was a moment of silence. Naruto was nervous, thinking he'd somehow offended Sasuke, when a quiet snore reached his ears. With a soft snort of laughter, Naruto shook his head and settled down, drifting off soon afterwards to the gentle rumbling of Sasuke's snores.

--

Sasuke ignored the large press of students as he made his way to the front of the auditorium, needing to speak to Naruto's professor. He'd been largely surprised at the amount of coursework he was given, and he wondered if the other professors were just sadistic, or this was Naruto's general run of the day.

_It's like he's doing double the work of what I did..._Sasuke thought vaguely. _Surely he's not smart enough to handle the honors program or accelerated program?_

The professor, a mild-looking, surprisingly young man with a mouse-brown hair pulled back in a spiky ponytail and an inexplicable scar across the bridge of his nose, looked up as Sasuke approached, a politely puzzled frown on his face.

"Can I help you, young man?" he asked amiably, looking slightly confused. "I don't think I've seen you in my class before."

Sasuke shook his head at that. "No, I'm here on behalf of one of your other students, Uzumaki Naruto. He's sick and staying with me until he gets better--" He paused and shifted the papers he'd gotten from the other professors. "I'm collecting his work for the next month or so... "

Sasuke was startled as the young professor practically launched himself across his desk at Sasuke, brown eyes wide and panicked.

"You've seen Naruto?" he interrupted, quickly rising into near-hysteria, "Where is he? Is he okay?"

Sasuke backed up slightly, holding up his free hand. "I take it you know him out of your large class." He said dryly, but he was rather pleased to see that the dumb-ass had people concerned about him. "Naruto is staying at my place, so of course I've seen him, and he's recovering from tuberculosis." Now he fixed the professor with a more direct stare. "I assume you noticed that he's been sick?"

With a faint sigh of relief, the professor sat on the edge of his desk, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Of course I have," he said, considerably calmer after having received a confirmation of Naruto's continued existence. "He always likes to brush it off as something he's always had, but I could tell that it was getting worse." He frowned here, "He wouldn't let me refer him to a doctor or anything, though. I've been panicking for the past two weeks, thinking he was dead in a gutter somewhere. Nice to see he cares enough about his old Iruka-sensei to give him a call."

A surprisingly paternal smile on the man's face completely undermined any sarcasm he might have been trying for, and again, Sasuke was taken aback by how much he seemed to care for his student.

He decided to thaw a little, considering how much this "Iruka" seemed to care for his student. "Naruto hasn't been able to call because he's been too sick." Sasuke stated bluntly. "Only recently has he been able to talk consistently _without _hacking up a lung, and even those conversations are limited." Sasuke knew that those words were hardly comforting, but it wasn't as if he could sweeten the situation, other than reiterate the fact that he was taking care of Naruto.

"He's staying at my personal medical facilities and has people looking after him. If the dumb-ass hadn't collapsed in my arms, he probably would be lying dead in a gutter." _Oops, don't think I really meant to say that last part_, he thought absently as Iruka's face shifted into panic mode again. _Oh, well - no hope for it now._

"Aiya," Iruka wailed quietly, pressing a hand to his head, "I always told him to be careful and take care of himself! And now he's gone and gotten tuberculosis." Rubbing wearily at his temple, Iruka looked up, suddenly seeming to realize that Sasuke had yet to introduce himself. "And you are...?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Uchiha Sasuke." He said blandly. "And I assume you're Iruka." He gave a brief smile. "Since you seem so concerned about him..." _Unlike the rest of the staff here..._his tone seemed to say. "Then why don't you visit him one day? I'm sure he'd like to see you." _And maybe the dumbass will relax and rest enough for his body to recover._

Iruka's eyes lit up.

"Of course I'd like to visit him! Would it be possible to see him tonight?" Then, suddenly seeming to realize his rudeness, he turned faintly pink, "That is, if it isn't impinging upon your time, Uchiha-san."

He paused again, frowning slightly.

"Uchiha-san..." he repeated, tapping his chin, "I've heard that name before."

Sasuke winced mentally and prepared himself as brown eyes widened yet again.

"Ah! Right, I remember now. Kakashi-san was telling me about a young charge of his who had the same surname. It was such a long time ago, though - four or five years, if I remember correctly?" Caught up in his thoughts, Iruka failed to notice Sasuke's tiny sigh of relief as he relaxed. "Ah, it was so amusing - he was telling me of how his charge managed to get himself into an inexplicable situation with two girls, a pair of pantyhose, and a flagpole." Shaking his head and chuckling, Iruka turned back to Sasuke only to find the Uchiha scion looking decidedly murderous as he plotted several ways to kill his butler.

Sasuke coughed when he felt Iruka's eyes on his again. "I think it would be fine for you to see him tonight." Sasuke pushed the thoughts of disemboweling Kakashi with a pair of chopsticks to the back of his mind. "Naruto needs to see other people besides doctors, nurses, and myself." He frowned for a moment. "You'll probably have to wear a mask, I don't know how contagious Naruto is still and I wouldn't want to take any chances."

Iruka nodded at that, waving it off. "That will be fine. It will just be nice to see how he's doing. He's always been by himself, doesn't socialize with many people on campus - he's always studying. Of course, with that accelerated program he's in, I'm not too surprised, but still... he should have more friends."

Sasuke's eyebrows rose. "Accelerated program? Naruto?" He asked in disbelief. "He can't even remember his leftovers at a restaurant!"

Iruka blinked and smiled rather fondly.

"I won't deny that he can be incredibly forgetful at times," he admitted, "But he's a good boy. He works very hard to do well and takes a lot of pride in his work; he's also incredibly loyal to the few friends he has, or so I gather. Oh! That reminds me. Would you mind if I told some of his other friends where he was? They've been worrying about him, as well."

Sasuke blinked at that, not sure that he wanted a great deal of people invading his space. "Not too many at once." He cautioned. It really _wasn't _fair of him to deny Naruto seeing his friends, after all. He and Naruto barely became friends and he was sure there were other people that he was on more friendly terms with. "I don't want him overwhelmed by people with him so sick." _And I don't want strangers blabbing about the Uchiha heir and who knows what else._

Iruka beamed.

"That's just fine. There're two or three people who've been dying to know where he is. Thank you, Uchiha-san." He moved around his desk and began organizing the papers on his desk, looking up at Sasuke with a smile that was definitely thankful. "Would it be okay for me to stop over around seven-thirty tonight?"

At Sasuke's nod, Iruka pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and proceeded to drill him for directions to his house.

He paused briefly when Sasuke gave the address and there was a hint of a smile on his face as he looked back up at Sasuke. "I think I can find it, Uchiha-san." There was a knowing gleam in his eye that renewed Sasuke's desire to murder his butler.

Sasuke gave a brief nod and collected the rest of the notes. "I'll tell Naruto that you're coming. It was nice talking to you, Iruka-san." He hurried out the door before he killed the poor teacher along with Kakashi.

--

To be continued…

--

Comments and criticism welcomed, as always.

Wolf and Lazuli


End file.
